168 - What is Death?

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Dr. Shabbir
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Joined: Sun Dec 24, 2006 12:46 pm
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168 - What is Death?

Post by Dr. Shabbir »

Death only heralds an end to our present physical existence but the person within us, the 'self' never dies. A fetus born out of his mother 'dies' for his previous world, the womb, and comes out to exist in a new world. Allegorically, similar is the change of our environment with death - moving from this world to Another.

Allah compares death to the state of sleep.

36:51 And when the Trumpet is blown, out of their disintegrated states to their Sustainer they will run. [Ajdaath = Bodily remains = Physical remains in the graves or scattered anywhere = Disintegrated states]

36:52 They will say, “Oh, woe to us! Who has awakened us from our beds of sleep? This is what the Beneficent promised, and the Messengers spoke the truth.” [Marqad = Bed of sleep = Resting place. These two verses strongly dismiss the clergy-peddled false concept of punishment in the grave. And how would God punish people after death before the Day of Judgment. Moreover, many kinds of suffering (‘Azaab) are named in the Qur’an, but not once is mentioned ‘Azaabil Qabr. In fact, God never punishes people. We only face His Law of Just Recompense, "As you sow, so shall you reap.”]

39:41 (O Prophet) We have revealed to you this Book expounding the truth for all mankind. Then whoever chooses guidance benefits his own ‘self’. And whoever chooses to be lost, he strays only to his own detriment. You are not a custodian over them, nor can you determine their fate. [Wakeel = Advocate, guardian, warder, warden, defender, custodian, responsible for the outcome]

39:42 (Only the living of the mind and heart can make choices in this world.) It is God Who takes their consciousness upon death, and of the living during their sleep. He withholds it for those upon whom He has passed the decree of death, and restores the others until an appointed time (according to His laws). Herein are signs for people who think. [39]

39:6 He has created you all out of one living entity (from a single life cell) - and fashioned similarly its mate, male and female (6:99). And He has bestowed upon you livestock of eight kinds in pairs. (Sheep, goat, camel, cow - male and female, the common permissible livestock 6:144-146). He creates you in the bellies of your mothers, creation after creation, in threefold depths of darkness (the abdominal wall, the uterine wall and the embryonic sac). Such is God, your Sustainer! Unto Him belongs the Kingdom. There is no god but He. How, then, can you sway like errant winds!

[With modern science in mind, we can understand the livestock sentence as eight organisms in pairs (Two strands of DNA held together in the early stages of conception, 4 for DNA and 4 for RNA). Nafs = Self, Mind, Psyche, Soul, Human being, Living entity, Person, Humankind, Essence of life, Personality, Mental faculty, Ego, I, Me, I-am-ness, Personal identity, Animate object. Nafsinwwaahidah = A single life-cell. Minha zawjaha = Mate out of its own kind = Mate, male and female = Companions very much alike = Similar in essence. 49]
Wassalam,
SA
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